Today on a Very Special Episode of 'The Office'
by elephantskeleton
Summary: Pam's relationship with Roy isn't perfect, but love is looking past all that. Jim is too caught up in his own feelings to see what is going on. As Assistant Regional Manager, it is Dwight's responsibility to ensure the safety of the weaker office members. When he sees something he wasn't supposed to, he and Michael start a secret investigation. Warning: emotional and sexual abuse
1. Chapter 1 - The Incident

The Incident

* * *

"Oh my god Oh my god, you have to see this!" Kelly bounced into the vending machine filled breakroom, laptop open and in hand, crowding in at the small, round table where Jim, Pam, and Oscar were eating lunch. Jim took advantage of the moment to scoot a little closer than needed to his crush, stealthily snaking his arm across the chair behind her. There was no real harm in it, and he did, after all, need to make room for Kelly and whatever she was so excited to show them. He could feel the distance, no more than a centimeter between his arm and Pam's back. He wished that he could just let go for one and wrap his arm around her. Comfortable, romantic familiarities were too easy to fall into with her and he reminded himself for the umpteenth time today that she was engaged.

Kelly's laptop was open to an hour long youtube EPIC FAIL compilation, paused about half way through. "You are going to laugh so hard," She said as she pulled a chair next to Oscar, blocking him in by the vending machines.

"What...?" Oscar inched away from Kelly skeptically.

"THIS!" she pointed to the screen incessantly and pressed play.

Michael Scott stood at the top of a large hill, recording himself in full snow gear, a confident grin on his face as he explained the basics of snowboarding. He continued holding the camera in front of him as he slowly started to go down the hill, two middleschool girls pointing and laughing at him from atop the hill behind him. As he picked up speed, he attempted to do a trick off a snowbank and wiped out hard. The middle school girls zoomed past him, laughing hard as they went. Everyone at the table cracked up.

"We've got to show Kevin," Oscar snorted as he got up, awkwardly shuffling behind Jim and Pam, on his way to accounting, chuckling all the way.

"Wow." Jim grinned, "How did we not know about this?" His joy at the video only rivaled by Pam having fallen in a fit of giggles against him, laughing so hard her breaths came as gasps.

"I know, right?" Kelly beamed.

"He was so confident then-" Pam squeaked out between laughs, trying to catch her breath.

"Wow. Someone has the giggles today. You drunk, Beasley? Been stealing drinks again?" Jim loved seeing Pam laugh, he hadn't seen her this giggly since the Dundies, when she had drunkenly given him a quick peck. He wasn't surprised. She had been so tired this morning, saying she couldn't sleep at all last night, and had probably just reached the point of being slap-happy.

"It's just - " she starts trying to talk through the laughter she can't seem to get over, before being suddenly interrupted by the break room door swinging open with a bang.

"What the Hell, Pam?" Roy knocked over a chair as her marched across the room towards his fiance. The laughing stopped immediately as Jim scooted back away from the table and from Pam as quickly as possible, letting Pam almost fall from her chair.

* * *

Dwight was hanging out behind the building, waiting on Angela to show up. It hadn't been a particular snowy January that year in scranton. Not fantastic for his winter carrots, but not really terrible either. There was probably an inch or two of snow from previous snow falls still accumulated in areas of low traffic or low sunlight, particularly back behind the building. He looked at th beige building and the relatively grimy surroundings, wondering what Angela wasn't here yet. She was never late. Something probably came up that she couldn't avoid without blowing their secret. That could be the only reason for her absence. She was never late. That was a mark of a good partner, Dwight considered, pleased with his personal life for the first time in a long time. Angela was so great. Always courteous not to waste another's time. He checked the time again on his new programmable watch when he heard voices just around the corner.

Doing what any sensible man of the law would do, Dwight hid, hoping to uncover any information that could be useful in his quest to keep this office park a crime free zone. After all, who but criminals would be meeting behind the building like that? Or secret lovers. If it was the former, he would do his duty to protect the name of Dunder Mifflin Scranton from criminals. If it was the later, he would have something interesting to tell Angela at dinner.

Roy pulled Pam just within the edge of Dwight's field of vision, over behind the dumpster. Not secret lovers, just the eternally engaged. Crouching, to guarantee that he was not seen, Dwight decided to spy on their conversation. He was always suspicious of Roy. He seemed the type to get involved with illegal activities. He'd probably pull Pam down with him.

"What the Hell, Pam?" he threw down her arm now they were hidden and began stalking back and forth in front of her

"Roy, plea-" Pam out for Roy's hand, but he snatched it away.

"Why the Hell were you letting Halpert feel you up like that?" Roy continued, not giving her any change to explain.

"We were jus-"

"Just what? Embarrassing me in front of the whole office? Letting everyone  
know I'm dating the office slut?" With each of Roy's words Pam seemed to shrink further into herself.

"We…" Pam shrank

"What Pam?" He paused for a moment, staring at her as if daring her to answer. She remained silent. "Dammit! I can't fucking believe you'd do this to me." He slammed his hands against the dumpsterin a thundering thunk.

"No, Roy, it wasn't like that, really," she started to move

"Yeah? What was it like? I can't believe you! Throwing yourself at him like that!" Roy spun at her, fists clenched in anger. "Fucking Hell, Pam."

"Kelly-" Pam started, standing perfectly still and staring at the ground.

"What? Does Kelly force you to throw yourself at other men?"

"We were just watching a video, Roy." Pam sounded so meek, so unlike herself. He could see tears in her eyes, even from this distance.

"Then why were you in his lap? Huh?"

"I just leaned on him a little…" Her voice was small.

"I can't believe you're still trying to explain it away! Jesus! I saw you."

"I'm so sorry, Roy."

"I can't believe you. You owe me. Big time."

"I'm so sorry."

"Alright, Pammy. Fine. Just…" He rubbed his face in frustration, "Just don't let it happen again." He stared at pam for a few moments before speaking again. "Look, I've got to get back to work, but I just wanted to tell you, I'm going out with they guys tonight, so uh, catch a ride with Angela or someone? And don't wait up."

Pam just nodded and watched him leave before leaning against the building and sliding to the ground in tears.

Dwight was torn. He liked Pam. Sure she had grated on him at first and she was always hanging around Jim, but she was nice. Friendly. Pleasant to work with. To approach her now or during their fight would be embarrassing for her, but to leave and say nothing seemed wrong. He decided to give her space. He heard them fight, and Roy was being an ass, but he'd be mad, too if his girlfriend cheated on him. But Angela wasn't that type of person.

* * *

Dwight, outside by the dumpsters:"I decided to give her some space. Yes, I saw their fight, I like Pam well enough. Roy was being a Jerk, but I'd be mad too if my girlfriend cheated on me. But she's not that type of person."

* * *

 _Authors Notes:_

 _This is the first fan-fiction I have posted. I would love a beta, so if any of you want to, let me know! I decided to write this after restarting the office after Christmas. I felt such a connection with Pam and the way Roy treated her reminded me of a terrible, abusive relationship I was in a few years back. Roy seemed so much like my ex, alternating cold apathy and controlling jealousy. I had a really hard time recognizing the abuse when I was with him because abusers are often very subtle. I've read a few fan fics about Pam being the victim of abuse, but it's always black eyes and pretty extreme abuse, but that's not the type of guy Roy seems like. He seems like the type to wear away at your self worth and autonomy over time until you feel as though you have little to no control over your life, your self, or your body._

 _I added a warning for sexual abuse, I'll add additional warnings at the start of those chapters. While some people, including me before therapy, might consider this dubious consent, it is sexual assault. If consent is dubious, it isn't there._


	2. Chapter 2 - Suspicion

Suspicion

Pam could feel the snow around her melting. She had been sitting against the wall crying for several minutes and was beginning to worry that someone would find her. She knew her coat would be wet, but she couldn't bring herself to get off the ground. Not just yet. If someone found her out here, they'd probably just leave her alone. Unless it was Jim. That'd be just like him, to go look for her, make sure she was okay. Smile and tease her into telling him what happened. And then he'd look at her with those big worried eyes and his eyebrows all scrunched up in concern and she just couldn't take that. Pity. Poor Pammy. She hated that look. He didn't know her life enough to judge. Didn't know Roy enough. Didn't understand how much good there was in him. A small, traitorous part of her wanted him, Jim, to find her crying, wanted his pity and sympathy and concern. To hug her and comfort her and tell her how much Roy sucked. But that wasn't fair to Roy.

He'd been so mad. And at work too. In public. It was beyond frustrating. She didn't think it was that big a deal, leaning a bit against a friend, but it clearly was. Roy was jealous and had a bit of a temper, but he wasn't irrational. Maybe she could show him the video. He might get a kick out of it. Just a kick. It wasn't _that_ funny. She was just feeling so giddy after half a gallon of coffee and a morning of struggling to keep her head off her desk. If she really thought about it, she saw how she was acting inappropriately. She _liked_ how Jim's arm felt behind her. How their legs had bumped under the table as he moved closer to make room for Kelly. How he had teased her about her silliness. She _chose_ to lean on him, to give him attention. Roy had thought she had been cheating on him, he was almost right. But Jim was her friend, her best friend, and she should be able to interat with him without having to watch her every action. She'd just have to be more careful with Roy. So he didn't get the wrong idea. It was lucky, really, that he had blamed her and not Jim. He wouldn't have a problem hitting Jim, but Roy never hit her. He could be jealous and grumpy, but he was never abusive, she reminded herself. He'd forgiven her too. Or nearly anyway.

She was dreading facing the office, facing Jim. And she knew what tonight meant. Roy coming home, drunk and handsy and her _owing_ him and all. She breathed deep, let the coldness of the air surround her and stopped feeling. It was easier in the cold. Red eyes cleared faster with cold air and no one, she hoped, especially Jim, would know she'd been crying.

* * *

Oscar, in the conference room: "Roy is definitely the jealous type. I couldn't put up with someone like that, but if it works for Pam… You know what it's her business."

* * *

Kelly, in the conference room: "It was so romantic. I wish someone would get jealous over me like that. It's just like Edward in Twilight. I be Roy is SUPER protective. It's so sweet. You can really tell that he cares about their relationship, you know?"

* * *

When Pam entered the office the room fell silent, but for the crunch of potato chips back in Kevin's corner. She knew everyone was talking about the whole thing with Roy and Jim. She put her head down and got right back to work. A few minutes passed and everything seemed to be calming down, so she stole a few glances over at Jim, hoping to make eye contact, hoping he'd brush it off with that 'Woah-Things just got crazy' look he has. She loves that look.

But Jim didn't make eye contact. Instead he seemed to be looking everywhere but at her. An intentional lack of eye contact. Around 2:00, Michael got back from his "very important secret lunch meeting," which pam expected was nothing more than an excuse to treat himself to lunch and a nap back at his condo, and checked in with everyone around the office, seeing what he'd missed. Pam almost groaned when he left the Annex and made a beeline straight to her desk.

"Pamalamadingdong!" he greeted her, drumming his fingers on her desk. "I heard that someone had a lover's spat!"

"Oh, no. I mean, it was nothing."

"I heard he was pretty jealous when he saw you sitting close with Jim."

"Yeah, I mean, we were watching that video of you, on the snowboard," Pam grinned as the blood drained from Michael's face. _Embarrass me and I'll embarrass you_ , she thought smugly before continuing, "But yeah, I was just laughing so hard at you wiping out and making a fool of yourself and Jim stopped me from falling out of my chair. Roy saw and just misunderstood. Everything's fine now." She smiled sweetly at Michael, knowing he would drop the subject now that the video had been brought up.

"Yes. Well. Very Good, Pam." Michael drummed on her desk a bit more, awkward as ever. "Carry on."

With that Michael exited swiftly to his office, Dwight following swiftly behind.

* * *

Kevin, in the conference room: "Oscar showed me that video (he he) the one where Michael (Ha!) falls off his snowboard, (ha ha ha) and down a hill, (he) where a bunch of girls (snort) make fun of him!"

* * *

Dwight listened intently when Pam described the events from earlier that day, just as he had listened to the gossip around the office about the event itself. Cheating was one thing, but this was nothing, it seemed like nothing at least. The conversation, more like berating, he heard earlier bothered him even more. Roy was clearly out of hand, being mean to Pam like that. It reminded him of what his sister had been talking about over Christmas. The Epidemic of Domestic Abuse. He had to talk this out with Michael.

He followed Michael into his office right on his heels and drew the blinds before peeking out to make sure no one was looking. Michael just stared at him suspiciously as he insured complete privacy. As Dwight checked all the blinds again, double checking that Pam was not suspicious and no one was listening at the door, Michael interrupted, "Dwight! What are you-"

"Shhhhhh-"

"Dwight-"

"We can't be overheard," Dwight whispered loudly, pulling up close to Michael's desk. "I saw something today. Something big." That got Michael interested. He, of course, being the Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, deserved to know all the goings on in the office. It was their jobs, as Regional Manager and Assistant Regional Manager to insure the safety and health of all those in their protection, especially the weaker women folk.

"What was it?" Michael leaned forward, definitely interested. "This is gonna be so good! Let me guess! Angela's secretly dating… Oscar! No, no! Pam and Ryan! No wait, she's engaged. Tell me!"

"This is not frivolous gossip, Michael. It is serious." Dwight hissed, trying to convey the importance of such a subject. "I think," he whispered, "one of our members may be the victim of … _domestic abuse_." He looked around again, making sure he was not heard, especially not by Pam.

"Wow, wow." Michael leaned back in is chair bringing his hand over his mouth and down to his chin. His serious thinking pose, Dwight noted to himself. "This is serious." Michael sat up in his chair after a moment. "Well…"

"I know." Dwight nodded wide eyed. Another long moment of heavy eye contact passed.

"Who is it?" Michael asked, interrupting their eye contact and wordless communication of shock, exasperated for some reason. "Is it Meredith? I bet it's Meredith. Or Toby. But he probably deserves it."

"It's not Toby." Dwight leaned in and whispered, wide eyed, "Pam."

"Pam?" Michael dismisses. "Roy and Pam? Do you have any proof _Dwight_? Have you seen Roy hit Pam."

Dwight hated it when Michael said his name like that. Like it had two syllables. It just has one. Dwight. "No," he explained carefully, seeing that Michael was losing interest by the second, "but I did see their fight. Just words, but it was… upsetting. Unreasonable."

"So what? Couples fight. But you'd have to be in a relationship to know about that. Women don't have to do what men say anymore _Dwight_. Women can fight back. Ugh."

"I know Michael. I told you, I do have a girlfriend." Dwight ignored Michael's skeptical looks and moved on. "But that's not what was wrong. Pam didn't fight back, at all, and Roy was way out of line. Fact: 1 in 4 women face domestic abuse. Fact: there are 5 women in this office. 6 if you count Jan. The statistics are against us, Michael."

"Yeah, but Pam?"

"Think about it. She's kind of quiet, easy to manipulate. A follower. And plain, so she probably doesn't feel like she had other options."

"She's kind of hot."

"Hmm..." Dwight considered peaking out at her from behinds the blinds. "I don't see it. But think about it, Michael. He never comes with her to work events, despite her loyalty to the office and him being a warehouse worker. And he's always jealous of Jim, I mean, who could be less attractive to women than Jim? I doubt he even brushes his hair in the morning."

"I don't know… Shouldn't HR… " Michael was coming around, but he just needed that final push

"Do you really want to leave this to Toby. TOBY, Michael."

"Ecch. No, no, you're right. Toby is the worst. We need to at least look into it."

* * *

 _Author's Notes: Thanks for reading. I plan on having more up soon. I really love writing Dwight. For this world to make sense Dwight is closer with his feminist sister Fannie, whose Poem, "A Willing Ignorance" was published in Hartford's Women's Lit Quarterly. I am not making Dwight a feminist, but I am taking his clearly paternalistic misogyny to a more helpful endpoint. I feel like Fannie would be a little glad he was at least trying, although his paternalism is terribly sexist and insulting._


	3. Chapter 3 - Friendship

Friendship

* * *

Pam glanced over at Jim for what had to be the thirtieth time since she had come back inside. He sat motionless at his desk, staring intently at his screen, still avoiding her. The few times she thought she had caught him looking at her, he had snapped his head back to his screen. Had she really been throwing herself at him? Was he as disgusted at her as Roy was? The thought that Jim would agree with what Roy said made her sick to her stomach. Roy was always upset at her about something it seemed, but if Jim was, too… she couldn't deal with that. A validation of all Roy's criticisms. It would just be too much.

Another half an hour passed before she felt eyes on her again and raised her eyes to finally meet his. He stared at her now, openly. Sad eyes and a furrowed brow told her that things were not back to normal. They probably wouldn't be for a while. She tried a tentative smile to feel him out, see if she ruined their friendship permanently. Relief flooded into her as he returned a smile that was sweet but more reserved than normal. Jim wasn't mad. Maybe he knew she was in trouble with Roy and blamed himself. He was so selfless like that, but it had been her fault. She was practically sitting in his lap. She'd have to let him know it was all her fault later, that he didn't have to worry. Maybe, she'd head to the kitchen soon for some tea.

Tea in her fancy new teapot always brought a smile to her face, at least since the Christmas Party a few weeks ago. She still had that high school photo of Jim taped up right behind her monitor, with the hot sauce and everything. Roy was so mad when she traded away the I Pod, but she claimed it was because Michael had taken it back. She knew it was wrong to lie, but it just saved them both so much grief. It was a white lie. She got up and went to kitchen, stopping by Jim's desk to see if he wanted anything. As she hoped, he got up to join her.

"That was crazy, earlier." Jim starts out, obviously put out by what happened earlier.

"I'm sorry about that"  
"No, no. No need to be…" Jim cut in, looking down at his hands rather than making eye contact.

"It's just Roy, you know. I told him there's no reason to be jealous… I mean, we're just friends."

"Yeah, yeah. Friends. Nothing more than... friends"

"Exactly. And don't worry. I told him it was all me." Pam was so skilled at reassuring people she was fine. Reassuring her family was simple. The only person who didn't always buy it was Jim. His furrowed eyebrows and sad eyes told her it wasn't working. More lies were needed. Lies. But white lies. "He's not mad. Everything's fine. Really."

"Yeah." Jim took a long drink of coffee and looked Pam over carefully, like he was building up to say something. "He just-"

Before the words came, the women's bathroom door opened, interrupting their solitude. Creed, with headphones and a book in hand, confidently marched out, giving Pam and Jim a funny look. As he marched out the door Jim's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up, but his mouth maintained a straight line, as though his eyes didn't give away his amusement. Pam grinned ear to ear and mouthed 'Oh My God,' unable to hide her joy. As the door to the break room closed they dissolved in to shock and giggles. With that, the events of the day were all but forgotten.

* * *

Creed, aside "What was I doing in the women's bathroom? Chill out, man. It's the 90s."

* * *

After sharing some laughter over Creed using the women's room, Jim and Pam got back to work, hot drinks in hand. Not even half an hour had passed when Jim started feeling the urge to go hang out at her desk, see what she was up to, just be around her. She had looked so upset when she came back. And she had been gone such a long time. Her eyes were red. He hated that Roy made her cry. But it was her choice. She chose to be with Roy and that was that. As much as he hated it, he'd respect her choice.

For the most part, he tried to stay out of it. It's not his business, he's just a friend. Another half an hour passed and he noticed Pam walk over to accounting, talking to Angela. He couldn't catch much of the conversation and knew that he shouldn't be listening, but he listened anyway.

"Again?" Angela was talking loudly and looked annoyed. More angry really, there's not much middle ground with her. Pam said something to her in a low voice that he can't make out. The words "Roy" and "Sorry" made it through the office cacophony to his ears, but that was about it. Angela was clearly pissed off. "Well I have a life, too, you know." then, after a few more low words from Pam, "I'll consider it."

When Pam made it back to her desk, he hopped up from his seat to do a little digging. "Propositioning Angela again, I see."

"Yeah, turns out she's not into girls." Pam brushed him off and dug around

"I'm sure she'll make an exception for you." he leaned against her desk popping a couple jelly beans in his mouth, giving her his most charming smile. She continued moving around papers for a moment, hiding a smile, before completely giving in to banter.

"Oh, yeah?"

"I know you were so upset not to get the hottest in the office dundee this year, but from what I observed, Angela clearly did not agree with that decision." he took a glance over at Angela, who, luck would have it, was glaring at them over the cubicle wall. "Look, she's pining after you already."

"She did said she'd consider, that's a pretty big deal coming from her. I wonder if she's expecting dinner and a movie first." Pam finally joined in on the joking, her eyes warm again and a smile hidden in the corners of her mouth.

"I'd definitely go with dinner and a movie, but that's just what it takes to get me into bed." Jim winked. He knew he was being a little too flirtatious considering this morning, but he just couldn't help himself.

"I doubt she'd be as easy as you."

"Ouch. Low blow." He placed his hands dramatically over his heart and rocked back on his heels. "So, is that a new pass time of yours? Seducing unsuspecting women?"

"I'm trying it out." Pam's smile was fully back in place. "You think I'll make any progress with Angela?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Beesly, She's clearly in love with Kevin. Though I think Meredith might give you a go."

Pam snorted in an attempt to not laugh. Making her happy like that was Jim's entire reason to get out of bed. She was just so damn cute when she laughed. Or smiled. Or breathed. "Oh, God, no!" Pam chuckled, "I was just asking for a ride home," She clarified. Jim's frown returned. "It's just that Roy has to work late is all."

"Well, I could give you a ride home?" Jim drummed his fingers on the side of the jellybean dispenser, anxious to hear her answer. To have some alone time, just talking and laughing side by side in his car would be so amazing. Maybe today could lead to something that might lead to them hanging out more outside of the office. It was all wishful hypotheticals, but those little scraps of hope kept him going.

"It's pretty far out of the way." She frowned, looking uncomfortable with the offer, like it was too much or something.

"No, it's fine. You'd do the same for me," he shrugged.

"Thanks, Jim." She said it so sincerely that he thought his heart was going to break.

* * *

When the day ended, Jim hung around Pam's desk until she was ready to go, drawing both the usual glares intermixed eye rolls from Angela.

"Thanks, so much Jim."

"It's seriously nothing."

"I just gotta type this up for Michael real quick. Oh my god I didn't tell you. He's having me type up his daily schedules and print them off for him because he doesn't like the way they look in the the new calendar program. I'm using lots of hard to read fonts and horribly bright colors. It's giving me a headache just looking at it."

"That's hilarious."

"Okay, okay, like three more seconds, change this to chiller and… perfect."

Jim looked down at the schedule of neon days and events in a wide array of comically bad fonts and smiled. "I hate to tell you this, but I think Michael might actually love this."

"No. It's way too hard to read."

"He's gonna love it."

"He'll get a headache. It'll make him sick."

"He's going to ask for this everyday now y'know?"

"No, no! That's part of the beauty. He's not going to be able to read it and I'll apologize, get Dwight to show him how to use the calendar software again, and I will have one less thing I have to do everyday. And it's such a stupid task, I can't even get in trouble!" She pulled on her keds as Jim grabbed her coat from the coat rack.

"He's gonna love it."

"Shut up!" She elbowed him lightly as she grabbed her coat and bag and skipped out the door. "You coming?"

They joked around about Michael's questionable taste as they donned their coats and walked out to his car. For a moment Jim almost allowed himself to imagine being like this everyday. Going to work together, heading home together. To the same home. To have dinner and relax and talk and just be together. As he drove her back to her home and life with Roy, he couldn't help but steal glances over at her, her curls looked so soft and red-gold with the sun setting just over her shoulder her. Her smile so sweet and genuine. Jim could do little more than smile and enjoy the moment

* * *

 _Author's Notes: Posting a lot of what I have today, going to try to switch to weekly or semi-weekly postings after I get through editing and posting what I have already written. Thank you for reading._


	4. Chapter 4 - The Plan

The Plan

* * *

Dwight arrived very early in the morning, ready with folder of printable pamphlets and educational materials to share with Michael. He was well armed and prepared for anything. Knowledge, was, of course, the best weapon. Hence the research. Guns were the second best weapon, followed by nunchucks, but due to the company's anti-firearm policy he was more or less limited to melee weapons. This was a very serious mission, with the well being of a respected co-worker. More than Respected. While he certainly wouldn't call them friends, he liked her. And friendly with Angela. If not for her inexplicable friendship with Jim Halpert, he would have considered her friendly enough to share his and Angela's relationship with. If Angela hadn't sworn him to secrecy. But that was neither here nor there.

While he waited for Michael to arrive, he did as much work as he could, preparing spreadsheets, sending emails, and setting aside points in the day to call specific clients, planning to spend the majority of the day on office security.

* * *

Dwight, in the conference room in front of window which showed only the dark of very early morning. "If one person in this office is under threat, the entire office itself is under threat. As Assistant Regional Manager it is my job to protect this office from harm. That is why I do not leave this office unprotected. I have bear mace hidden in four locations no intrude would think to look. I have throwing stars in my wallet. I never leave the house without the deadliest weapon of all. My mind."

* * *

Michael, in his office, the brightness of the mid-morning sun shining through the window behind him, "What? How did you know about that? The boss, the head of the office is just like a dad, the head of a family. And just like a did It is my job to take care of each of my children. And sometimes that means getting involved in their personal lives. A good father stays involved in his kids personal lives. He doesn't just leave and then your mom marries some guy who doesn't even take you to the zoo once!" Michael's voice cracked. "I want to be a good boss."

* * *

Dwight waited patiently for Michael to come in, hoping that he would make it in well before the receptionist, unfortunately the morning dragged before Michael came in around 9:15. It was imperative that they talk and Dwight deposit his research to the safety of Michael's office before Jim goes riffling around in his stuff like he always does. He must make it clear that Jim must not be involved in the subject, he is clearly too close to the situation, or worse, an enabler.

His eyes scanned the office. Angela, Phyllis, and Pam were already here. Angela, his own girlfriend, was not in danger. Schrute men were historically raised to maintain dominance over their wives and lessers, but as the men who clung to old ways began to slowly die off due mainly to asphyxiation, strong women had raised the later generations of Schrute men to be respectful leaders, cognizant both of a woman's duties as well as her needs. Phillis was seeing Bob Vance, owner of Vance Refrigeration, but he knew little of their relationship. He'd have to do some reconnaissance. As for Pam, he looked at her in pity, he had his suspicions. He wanted to look out for her, she deserved that much, poor thing. That only left two: Kelly and Meredith, neither he knew much about as far as personal life was concerned. Kelly was attractive at least, so she probably had boyfriend or something. Meredith was not. She was divorced and had flashed Michael at Christmas. There was no way she was in a relationship, so domestic abuse was a non-issue. She could be dismissed entirely.

When Michael opened his door for the first time that day at 10: 27 precisely, and called him into his office, Dwight brought his folder of research as well as a small stand and visual aids for his presentation.

"Dwight, I know you thought this was necessary yesterday, but I thought about it and we're fine. We're all just one big happy family here, right? Let's call off the whole thing, okay."

"But I have a presentation."

"We don't need to, we don't, just… go."

"C'mon, Michael. At least let me give my presentation."

"No…"

"Please Michael?"

"I… "

"Michael please? I made charts."

"I… uh… okay, fine. You can do your presentation, but make it quick."

Dwight quickly set up his tripod and cards, pulled out his magnetic point, started with statistics, but, given Michael's apparent lack of interest, he soon skipped ahead to the meat of the presentation. "Fact: Domestic Abuse includes wife beating, but also sexual assault, mental and emotional abuse"

"Emotional abuse? That's not a thing." Michael scoffed.

"Oh, yes it is Michael. The Department of Justice defines it as…" Dwight dug around in his folder before pulling out the correct notes, "Undermining an individual's sense of self-worth through, but not limited to criticism, diminishing one's abilities, name-calling, or damaging one's relationship with his or her children."

"Ugh. What is this? An anti-bullying PSA?" Michael put his head on his desk and covered it with his hands.

"Michael, This is serious." Dwight was rarely critical of his boss, but why was he being so apathetic when one of his own might be in trouble. It just seemed out of character.

"Fine. Continue." He lifted his head up in a huff.

"Fact: Abusers will often only attack arms, abdomens, or other places that are easy to cover up or explain away. Victims are likely to cover themselves up regardless of the season." This seemed to get Michael's attention. "Fact: Victims of abuse are often shy or withdrawn. Quiet, prone to excessive privacy about their personal life. Meek, apologetic. Easy to control or manipulate."

"Hmm… What about Angela? She's quiet, kind of. Or maybe just mean. Is mean one of the symptoms? And she covers up, she definitely could show more skin. I bet she'd be really hot in a bikini."

"We don't have to worry about Angela." Dwight dismissed, the lovely image of Angela in a bikini and the horrible feeling of Michael accusing him of not protecting his woman both vying for his attention.

"I don't know…"

"We don't. Have to worry. About Angela. Moving on." Dwight took a deep breath to calm himself. "Abusive partners:" He hit the board with his pointer, taking out some of his frustration. "Can you always tell by looking? No. Signs of an abusive partner: Jealous." thwack, "Possessive." thwack, "Easy to anger." thwack, the card fell over and Dwight hastily set it back up, embarrassed. To save face he cleared his throat and continued. "Controlling. Constantly keeps tab. Controls access to money, family and friends, etc. Violent, easily provoked to violence with others."

"Okay, okay, I don't know anyone like that." Michael shook his head, dismissing the whole thing.

"Roy's like that." Dwight said quietly. After doing the research last night, he regretted not intervening sooner, noticing sooner. He'd been friends-not friends, work colleagues-for years. But now was not the time to draw conclusions. Michael was right. It still may well be nothing.

"No, I hired Roy. Well, I hired Darryl and Darryl hired Roy, so I kind of grand-hired Roy. And I wouldn't… hire anyone like that." Disgust lined Michael's face. "And how do you know?" Michael jumped to the defense. "It's not like you're close with the warehouse workers. Not like I am. Me and Darryl. We tight."

"Multiple people saw him throw over a chair in the break room, he's jealous of Jim. I mean, Jim. Of all people." Dwight scoffed. He could see being jealous of Michael or even the temp, but Jim? Please. "And I saw him yelled at Pam over nothing. The signs are there, Michael."

"No," Michael started tearing up, "I don't want to believe it."

"But that doesn't make it not true." He moved over to comfort his boss. His boss and his friend.

"There could be others. There could be more. We could help them. The women of this office, you know, help them take back the night." Tears streaming down his face, Michael held this fist up in solidarity. "Augh! What are we gonna do?"He covered his face.

"Michael, it's okay. Michael. Michael. Michael. Mic-"

"What is it Dwight?" Michael snapped, before loudly blowing his nose.

"I have a plan."

Dwight, in the conference room with the blinds drawn. "Like any qualified tactician I will not execute a mission without a thorough plan of attack. That's how I maintain my spot as number one salesman in the area. When you think about it everything is a battle, the only way to strive in this world is to prepare for every possible outcome and strategize appropriately."

"I have a four part plan set in place that will quickly and efficiently end the abuse. Step one: Observation. First we begin by observing the women in the office and comparing them and their partners to what we know about domestic violence. This will go beyond work hour duties, something I am more than willing to do. Besides, it's winter. We're between harvesting and planting again, so I have a bit of extra time on my hands." He shrugged.

"Fact:" Dwight continued, moving back to a discarded notecard he skipped earlier. "Domestic abuse is most likely to occur between the hours of 6:00pm to 6:00 am. I say that we come up with a shortlist of likely victims and I observe them, utilizing my extensive experience with stealth and reconnaissance."

"Step Number two:" he smacked the card a little too hard again, but caught it before it fell. "Step Two: community outreach. In order to effectively convince the person in question to leave an abusive relationship we will need to enlist the help of her family and friends. Before we enlist their help, we must interview them and make sure that they are not enabling the abuse. If we cannot trust them, we move on to step three alone."

"What's step three?" Michael sniffled, still sniffling a little, but finally on board with the plan.

"Step Three: Intervention. We approach the victim with what we know and persuade her to end her abusive relationship. This might be hard, because, according to my reading, many victims are afraid to leave or don't feel able to for one reason or another. In order to persuade any domestic Violence victims to leave their abusers, I have set up a makeshift women's shelter in my farm house, that can be rented by the night or with the exchange of manual labor on the farm."

"No one wants to rent a room in your stupid" Michael blew his nose and wiped his tears, "farmhouse, Dwight."

"Do you have any place better in mind?" He doubted Michael had anything better than a 9 bedroom farm house that he currently planned on turning into a bed and breakfast on the side.

Sniff, "No." Michael conceded, "My spare bedroom maybe, but only if it's one of the hot ones. Like Pam. Or Angela."

"That works just as well." Dwight dismissed, eager to move on to the final step. "Step Four: Enforcement. If the abuse victim is unable to remove themselves from the situation in question, they will be forcibly removed. Enforcement also accounts for the actions taken to protect the abuse victim from further abuse at the hands of said abuser. It means protecting the women of our office with everything we have. Making sure they are safe at any cost. Even at the cost of their own freedom."

Michael had stopped crying, a determined look on his face, "Let's do this."

* * *

 _Author's Notes: This is where things pick up. The inspiration for something like this was actually a stupid mandatory training thing I had to do one year that discussed what was considered abuse and assault. I only had images in my mind of abuse as being this drastic, obvious thing. Beatings and violent rapes, not someone manipulating you until you say yes. That mandatory training, as stupid as it seemed at the time, really opened my eyes to the fact that people were treating me very poorly, illegally poorly, and I had no idea that this was not okay. I wanted to keep this light hearted too. This should be something we can talk about as a society, don't ya think?_


	5. Chapter 5 - Give and Take

Give and Take

* * *

 _WARNING: This chapter contains non-explicit depictions of sexual assault told from the perspective of someone who hes normalized abuse. I have italicized the memory sequence as a heads up and have a recap in the Author's Notes section at the end of the chapter.  
_

* * *

Pam was later than usual getting into the office, but for good reason. She had spent some extra time this morning packing a nice lunch for both her and Roy. Sandwiches, pickle spears, fresh strawberries, salads with dressing on the side, cookies in baggies. More than the usual leftovers or sandwich and chips. Roy had asked her fto pack them a nice lunch to eat together while she was getting dress. Something kind of special. It was a little inconvenient, but she didn't mind. Things with Roy were better and he was taking time to spend with her. She was blissfully content as she poured herself her first cup of tea for the day. She usually didn't sweeten, but Oolong with just a touch of honey sounded so good this morning. Nothing was going to ruin her day.

Roy had been so gentle and sweet this morning. He had woken her up with kisses, but not pushed her to take it further. He had complimented her hair and make up, and even asked her to pack them both nice lunches so that they could eat together on break. It had been a great morning.

Michael called her into his office about half an hour after she got in. After taking notes on a phone call he had with Jan, and being asked to analyze every other word for double meanings, Michael's tone turned serious.

"Pamnana spilt, I wanted to talk to you about the schedule you typed up for me." Despite the cringe worthy nickname, Michael's face was very serious, much to Pam's elation.

Pam put a carefully schooled look of curious concern on her face, "What was wrong with the schedule?"

"It was kind of hard to read, Pam."

Score. She nodded, failing at hiding a smile. She wouldn't have to do it and he didn't seem mad.

"But" he continued, her heart sank. "All and all, I loved it. Do it again tomorrow. Oh, but use darker colors? Or word art?"

She nodded, a little grumpy about the stupid tasks he had her do, but still in a fantastic mood. When she left Michael's office she made hard eye contact with him, a a fake look of hatred on her face, but a playful glint in her eyes.

* * *

Micheal, in his office, holding up the unreadable neon schedule "There's something great when an employee takes time to do something special for you. I'm a great boss," He beamed, "What can I say?" He cleared his throat. "It's a little hard to read. Artsy types like Pam always put beauty first. Shame she doen't do that with her appearance."

* * *

"How'd it go?" Jim sauntered up to her desk, a smug, knowing grin on his face. Pam wanted to hate him just a little, but she couldn't.

"He loved it," she admitted with a grimace.

"I so told you."

"I hate you." she wanted to be mad, but she couldn't hide her smile.

"Pstch, you love me." He popped a few jelly beans in his mouth, leaning against her desk with that cocky grin on his face.

She couldn't help but smile up at him in response, her stomach doing a little flip when their eyes met. Green eyes. Like a dark grey green. Pine trees in the autumn, before the snow. She snapped herself out of it. She preferred blue eyes. Roy had blue eyes. Time to move on. "He asked for Word Art next time."

"Nice." He rocked back on his heels, clenching his in success sarcastically. "More late nights at word, contemplating color theories and font size?"

"I'm sure I can squeeze it in around my other very important research." Pam turned confidently back to her desk, pretending to work.

"Yeah?" He leaned down over her desk as through trying to spy what she was working on "More palm reading?"

"It's called palmistry."

"Oh yeah?"

"And I'll have you know that was of vital research to the company."

"I bet. How would a corporate structure function without knowing how many children we - I mean each of us - are going to have?" He blushed and scratched the back of his head.

"It's important when planning your 401k." She loved that he played along. Why did they not hang out more outside of work? There was her teaching him to drive stick like a year or so back, but since then they spent too little time hanging out.

"So what's your research about today, Beesly?" he dug through the jelly beans looking for a pink one. Those were his favorites.

"I don't know… Maybe numerology?" It was silly, she knew it, but she loved that stuff. Not the way Kelly loved it, reading daily horoscopes and putting absolute faith in unknowable forces of the universe, but it was trashy. Fun. Besides it wasn't as trashy as Trading Spouses, so Jim couldn't say anything.

"Math?"

"What? It's interesting!"

"Oh my god. You want to be a fortune teller!"

"No I don't! Shut up!" Pam laughed

"I've gotta tell Kelly."

"Don't you dare."

"I'm going to write her an email right now." he took a couple steps backwards to his desk in a grand gesture.

"And I'm already typing her one, telling her you were asking how it's going with Ryan. That you want all the details." She mock typed on her keyboard, making the treat more real.

"This is a dangerous game you're playing, Beesly." He challenged, eye brow raised and arms our spread, as if to say 'come at me.'

"Mutually assured destruction. Suck it, Halpert."

He threw his arms up dramatically, "Okay I give."

She grinned widely at him as he sat back down, today was going perfectly.

* * *

Kelly, aside in the annex, "I love horoscopes! Why do you ask? Do other people like them too? Ohmygod who? Is it Ryan? Did I tell you about my horoscope today? It is such an awesome day for me. Today I am going to talk with someone who will change my life for the better, but it's a bad day to wear red. What's your sign? I'm a Gemini, which is awesome. It's super important to know your sign. I looked up Ryan's sign yesterday. He's a Capricorn. Ohmygod do you think that he might be the someone I talk to today who changes my life. He is so cute. I hope he asks me out! That would be so completely awesome."

* * *

Several hours and no more than 15 phone calls later, an unusually low number, she had done the calculations for both her and Jim. Four numbers for both of them filled with hidden meaning. Not that she believed in this, but it was fun and a good distraction. They had the same Life Path and Balance numbers: 1 and 9 respectively, but different Destiny and Birthday numbers. His was 11, hers: 8. She hadn't looked up what they meant, she figured they could do that together and waste some time after lunch.

Feeling a little guilty for leaving Roy out, not wanting to give him a reason to be jealous, she did his numbers as well. And just to be extra careful to make sure this looked like something meaningless and not an inside joke, she did Dwight's as well. As she scribbled down numbers and answered phones, Pam slipped away from her happiness back to the previous night.

 _Jim had taken her home last night. She thought it might be awkward, after Roy got so angry with both of them in front of the whole office, but it wasn't. After a few tense moments, everything dissolved back into their usual camaraderie. Jim was her best friend and she never had more fun than when they were together. As she sat in the car with him, she kept thinking of ways to extend this sliver of time she had with him outside of the office, without filter. She almost suggested dinner together: fast food. Casual and unromantic enough that it couldn't be misconstrued as a date. But Roy would see it as one. She hated that she did this to Roy, made him feel so insecure about their relationship. If not hanging out with her friend tonight would help him feel better, it was the least she could do._

 _When Jim dropped her off, she wanted so badly to invite him up. She knew Roy wouldn't be back till late and the idea of spending yet another evening alone while the world goes on around her was almost overwhelming. The only thing that stopped her was the idea of how hurt and angry Roy would be. She could text and ask permission, hint at Jim not being a treat, but now was not the right time to push anything. She hugged Jim goodbye and settled into a night alone._

 _She had leftovers for dinner, anticipating Roy would be well fed on Bar food. She did some laundry and had a glass of wine or two. When Roy wasn't home by 11, she settled in for bed. She was asleep by midnight and actually slept pretty well until Roy drunkenly stumbled in happy and excited to see her._

 _"Pammy!" He collapsed on top of her on their bed, jarring her violently from sleep. "I missed you!"_

 _"I missed you too." Pam rubbed her eyes and struggled in to a sitting position, trying not to let her grumpiness at being woken ruin the moment of Roy being so nice. "What time is it?"_

 _You're kinda hot, you know?" He said, looking at her with a wolfish grin, eyes taking in her bed head and her bunched up tank top._

 _Pam rolled her eyes in response. Of course. Of course that's why he was so happy, so attentive. She brushed him off, she wasn't in the mood. "C'mon, Roy," she smiled sleepily, "Let's go to bed."_

 _"Oh, c'mon Pammy. Please. I love you. And I missed you so much while I was out."_

 _"Not tonight, Roy, I have to be up soon."_

 _"You love me don't you?"_

 _"Of course I love you."_

 _"This would really show me that you love me, Babe." His words were followed by silence of Pam's part. "I mean, after today I really need to feel that you love me."_

 _"I know, Roy, I love you, but I just don't - Not tonight, okay?"_

 _"You owe me. C'mon Pam, after today, you owe me." He had her there. She had said he owed her. She knew what that entailed. By that point he was already mostly on top of her, kissing her body, roughly removing her shirt. Her best option was taking control._

 _Appeasing his sexual appetites with a blow job so that he would just leave her alone and get back to sleep. It wasn't that bad actually. If history told her anything, he'd just lay back tired, let her do her thing, and collapse afterward so that she could just go on with her life. Men had higher libidos, a bigger need for sexual gratification, this was just part of it. Part of a healthy give and take of a relationship.  
_

 _It was never pleasant. He smelled gross and sweaty from a hard day of work followed by a long night out. All of this was made worse by him being pushier than usual as well, not letting her take control the way she wanted. She hated dirty talk, hated some of the things he said during sex. The worst moment, the moment when she almost stopped everything in favor of fighting, was when he grunted "Take it" in a moment of roughness. It was worse than humiliating, it was degrading. That combined with the forcefullness she hated took away any pleasure she may have had at making him feel good. When he finally finished and passed out on the bed, Pam went into the bathroom and let herself cry._

 _After a few minutes to collect herself, Pam headed to bed, surprised to see Roy was still up._

 _"Hey, babe. You okay."_

 _"Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't like dirty talk like that, you know?" She stood awkwardly by the bed, not really feeling up to joining a conscious Roy in bed._

 _"I'm sorry about that. I guess I just forgot how much you hate it. I promise I'll talk to you before we decide to try something like that again." He opened his arms and gave her a big smile, beckoning her to bed. In his arms._

 _"Yeah. That's be nice. Thanks Roy." She smiled. He never meant to hurt her. He loved her. He had asked her to marry him. And it's unreasonable to ask that he be into the same things as her, sexually. It was just part of the give and take of a normal relationship._

 _"I love you." He stroked her hair as she crawled up next to him_

 _"I love you too."_

 _"C'mere. Let's go to sleep. Or do you want me to…?" he gestured vaguely at her body, but seemed actually willing enough to reciprocate this time._

 _"No. I just want to cuddle." She hadn't wanted to do anything. She needed the sleep._

 _"That's why I love you. You're always so easy to please." Roy yawned out as he got comfortable._

 _Good old reliable Pammy. So easy to please. Easy to please because his reciprocations never really did it for her, she mostly had to take care of herself. He was either just not skilled in giving pleasure or he didn't care. She hoped it was the former. But she couldn't say any of that, so instead she just wiggled herself under the blankets, still in his arms, and whispered, "Good night." It felt nice to be held after such a bad day, even if Roy did cause a lot of the awfulness. All her hurt, all her anger, Pam set aside. Things were okay now. Roy loved her. He was holding her, he was taking care of her. Things were okay. They were going to be okay._

 _As she slipped back into unconsciousness she imaged that Jim, not Roy, Jim with his long arms and deep green eyes, was sleeping behind her, holding and caring for her after such a trying day. Her dreams that night involved him as well. She and Jim were separated by a wall, white styrofoam and paper, brought together by their mutual love of mac and cheese, which they were both were eating from bright blue bowls. When they got to a break in the wall, the size of a large window, they leaned toward eachother, both holding their macaroni lightly. Jim whispered to her in some foreign language and they kissed. Her heart had never felt so full._

Pam, still lost in the memory of her dream, a memory much preferable to the memory of of last night's reality, was startled awake by meredith.

"I know that look. You're remembering getting plowed aren't you?"

Pam's face turned a bright red. "No! I um. No, that's not-" she stuttered.

"Hey, you don't have to explain anything to me," She gave pam a big wink. "Can you make 10 copies of this for me?"

"Yeah, no problem." Pam headed over to the copier while Meredith hung around her desk, looking over the Numerology chart she was working on. The one that looked more than a bit like the Matrices she covered in high school algebra.

"Thanks." "Hey, whatcha workin on here? Going back to school? Good idea. "

"Oh, no. It's just - It's nothing."

"Yeah? Okay. You should think about going back to school though. Better than being Michael's secretary your whole life." Meredith suggested, throwing a disgusted look toward's Micheal's weirdly silent and sealed up office.

"I'm the receptionist." Pam refuted, offended, dispite knowing there was no reason to be.

"Whatever, Same thing." Meredith took the copies and left. It got Pam thinking. Was there really any difference between the two positions? Was a secretary really worse than a receptionist? Maybe she should go back to school.

* * *

Meredith aside: "I always encourage young women to go back to school. It's great you get to party and drink on weekdays and no one says a thing. You're in college! I'm working on my PhD on weekends. Parties every week. Free booze if you show your boobs. It's awesome."

* * *

 _Author's Notes: This was a pretty heavy chapter, I hope the trigger warning at the beginning was helpful for anyone who may need it. If you skipped the section, you didn't miss much. Jim drives Pam home and she tried to think of a way to hang out with him longer, but can't figure out one that won't upset Roy after earlier that day. Roy and comes home late manipulates Pam into doing something she doesn't like and then apologizes for it in an insincere way afterwards. She goes to sleep in Roy's arms but dreams of Jim. For anyone who may not have understood the problem with Roy's actions, Roy pressuring Pam into having sexual contact with him even though she wasn't into it was an act of sexual assault._ _ _I have this rated T still because I am not planning on having any explicit depictions of sex or sexual assault._ I do understand that this a heavy subject. It you feel that it should be rated M, please let me know. _

_I have a lot I want to explain about my own experiences, where the story comes from, and how I am working with characterization of character built for lighter subject matter, but it's all a little much, so I don't think I'll continue doing much with the author's notes unless people request it. Thank you for reading._


	6. Chapter 6 - The Perfect Day

Chapter 6: The Perfect Day

* * *

That morning's sales call went great. With the commission from this sale, he could afford a new car, or at least monthly payments on one. And he had a plan. Pretty soon, if all went well, he would be hanging out more and more with Pam outside of work. If she became friends with his friends, then there would be no issue with Roy. They could hang out anytime. Really be best friends, not just work friends. This plan would work, too. It was indefinite, there would never be a point in which Roy would but in and stop them from being together. 'Not being together, being friends,' he reminded himself. Jim took the stairs two steps at a time, excited to see Pam, joke around about her weird number fortune telling, and flirt about their future together. He took a breath, tried to tone down the big smile on his face, and opened the office door. Today was going to be the perfect day.

After he set down his things, he all but skipped over to reception.

"You look pleased with yourself." Pam could always read him so well. That's why they would be perfect together. "Don't tell me you're actually starting to like this job."

"God no!" He choked on the weirdly salty jellybean he was eating. Popcorn maybe? "I do, however," he recovered with a throat clear, "find myself incapable of not liking the money."

"Who knew you were such a Material Girl."

"You're forgetting that this is a material world." He smiled broadly at the Madonna reference, leaning against her desk and popping more, hopefully less nasty, jelly beans in his mouth. "So, how's it going back at home base, Beesly? What's the plan for lunch?"

Pam tugged at her sleeve anxiously and looked down at her desk. "Actually, Roy and I are eating together today."

Jim couldn't help be feel a bit hurt. Lunch was their time, what he had been looking forward to all day. "Fancy date in the warehouse? So romantic." The bitter undertones surprised even him.

"I packed a lunch for us." Pam was immediately on the defense. "It's kind of romantic."

Jim just raised an eyebrow and went back to his desk, not looking back up at her even as he left to eat his lunch.

At 12:30, or rather a little after, Roy entered the office and tapped on Pam's desk. He leaned on her desk, he wrapped his arms around her shoulder, she smiled up at him with her pretty green eyes all shining and bright. She gave him a little kiss on the cheek as they left together. He put his hand on her butt. Jim couldn't look away.

Was he a masochist? The pain of watching the girl you love leave with another man was by no means unfamiliar, you'd think he'd get used to it or at least learn to look away. He knew he was watching them with sad eyes reflecting a deep aching in his chest. He knew that anyone could see; she could see. It was not even halfway through the day and he could really use a drink. The pain of a perfect day ruined was nothing compared to yet another hit of the world telling him that Pam would never feel for him the way he felt for her. He could see about taking a swig from Meredith's flask; he knew she'd share, but that wasn't a real option. He did what he did everyday: he put on his face and got back to work.

Messing with Dwight always brought Jim back up when he was feeling down. Something small, just to bring him back to reality. It had been a couple days since he'd pulled a good prank. Jello? Classic, but a little overdone, a little obvious. Changing the order of the keys on his keyboard? Great Idea, but he'd need access and he had no idea when dwight would be leaving his desk for any period of time long enough. Something simple. He could run out to the store during his lunch and just replace all of Dwight's pens and pencils with crayons, but then he might have to walk past Pam and Roy, probably making out in the parking lot. He drummed his fingers on the desk. He needed something to distract him. He had the perfect plan.

* * *

Jim, aside in the conference room, "Yeah, Pam's having lunch with Roy today. It's fine, it's fine. That's fine. Do I miss having lunch with my friend, sure, but it's fine. I'm fine. They're together. Engaged. And that's… totally… fine. " He scratched his head and focused his attention down at his shoes.

* * *

Lunch with Roy was nice. They sat outside on the benches by the side entrance to the warehouse, huddled in their big coats for warmth, and looking out at the hedge that surrounded the building. The view wasn't fantastic and part of her wanted to go up to the roof, but she just couldn't. There was something that made her only want to go up there with Jim, watch Dwight dance around fireworks, and share terrible delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. On the side of the building, they caught some heat off of the open warehouse door, so it was a better option anyway.

She and Roy never spoke much, but it wasn't an awkward silence; it was comfortable. It wasn't meaningful, but it was easy. He'd tell her about something that happened in the warehouse, she'd tell him about some idiotic thing Michael or Dwight had done. Lately she had been avoid the subject of them. There was something a little too mean, a little too mocking in the way he laughed at them. There was always some conversation, nothing memorable, T.V., work, plans for the weekend, but mostly they spent their time in companionable silence. It was nice, she told herself, nice.

Jim was still picking at his sandwich and chips at his desk when she returned. She smiled and waved at him, but even after she caught his eye, he just ignored her. After fifteen minutes back at her desk and nothing from Jim, she was getting annoyed.

"Hey." She walked up to his desk, arms crossed in annoyance.

"Hey." A non-committal answer. A nothing answer. He was ignoring her.

"How was lunch?" She was trying. She really was. If he would just stop being difficult and tell her what was wrong, she could fix this.

"It was fine, I'm just real busy right now." He didn't look up from his typing.

"Okay," she stormed to the bathroom.

* * *

Pam, in the conference room with the blinds closed "I don't know what his problem is. It's not like he's never eaten lunch without me before. What about all those client lunches where I have to eat with Oscar or Toby or Angela? What? He can have plans but I can't? This is so unlike him. I can't believe him." She wrung her hands. "I'm so sorry. Toby and Oscar are lovely people. I really do enjoy their company. Angela, too, I guess. Sorry."

* * *

The day had been surprisingly busy following his morning meeting with Michael. He had planned to set aside large parts of the day to observe and set his plan in action. This had not happened. He was able to, however, interview the women of the office and assess who was and was not likely to be a victim of abuse. Dwight shook his head at the thought of the poor, weak women in this office. Not everyone could be like Angela. Angela was strong, and hardy, but very feminine. She would make a wonderful mother someday.

He had approached Phyllis first, cornering her in the kitchen. "How's it going with Bob Vance?" He asked as casually as he could, leaning against the counter and taking a long drink from a water bottle. People didn't really talk to Phyllis about her person life, and for good reason. She was matronly. Boring.

"It's going so well. Actually, he asked me to move in with him. Isn't that exciting?" Phyllis gushed at being asked a personal question. Weak. A real sign of strength was the ability to compartmentalize your personal and professional lives. Phyllis was on the list.

"Living together before marriage? Really Phyllis? And I thought better of you." Angela appeared in the doorway, joining in the conversation Dwight was trying to end.

"You would never live with someone before marriage?" He asked cautiously. His plans for their future together were leading to that. He would have to readjust.

"Of course not, I'm not some hussy." Her eyebrows raised in indignation as she glanced at Phyllis and back to reception.

"Not even you and he were… invested in the relationship?" He pushed. He knew she had morals, her morals were part of why he was drawn to her, but they were having sex before marriage, what was the big difference? He loved her, he wanted to start their future together before too long.

"If he cared for me enough to be… invested, he should ask me to marry him." She said confidently, looking him directly in the eye, eyebrow raised in a challenge. He was captivated. He was scared. This was moving very quickly.

"Are you… invested in anyone these days." He asked, a little breathless, but still on his feet.

"No." She said succinctly and with a turn of her heal, she left the kitchen.

Dwight leaned a little more heavily against the counter, shaken from what had gone on. He pulled himself together when he realized Phyllis was still there. She had been there for the entire conversation. And, luckily, more than anything, she looked confused.

"Why are you still here, Phyllis? Get back to work. Your pitiable sales record is bringing us all down."

* * *

Phyllis, aside in the conference room, "I don't know what that was about But I do just fine with my sales, thank you very much. Dow you think there could be something going on between Dwight and Angela?" She looked excited for a moment until her face dropped. "No. That doesn't make sense. Never mind."

* * *

Jim had spent the past hour or more working on the document. He had grabbed the header from a government agricultural website, added it to his document, and compressed the word document down into a pdf. And it looked good. Really good. Dwight would definitely buy it. But Jim wasn't feeling better. Not really. He couldn't while Pam was still upset with him. He had been cold, he had hurt her. Self preservation, right? It had been almost an hour since he had talked to her and the guilt was eating him alive. The deep hollow pain of longing pressed on his chest while guilt twisted his stomach. He couldn't live like this. Self preservation or not, he couldn't just be cold because she had someone else. It wasn't in him. It wasn't fair to her.

* * *

To: pamelabeesly dundermifflin . net  
From: jameshalpert dunermifflin . net  
Subject: poison beets - a new study

So while you were at lunch I had this great idea. Surprisingly what I have been working on has not been my actual work, so out of character for me, I know. I finally finished it though. It's a pretty legit, if I do say so myself, looking article about a new scientific study that proves that beets are seriously hazardous to your health. I stole the header and author information from the National Agricultural Survey and photo-shopped it in. I put WAY too much time in it. I know. I've got it attached. What do you think? Can you read it over and play along when the time comes?

-Jim

* * *

A few minutes later, when Dwight left his desk, Jim headed over to reception and whispered "Did you get my message?"

"This is so cool." Pam's eyes were bright, excitement and joy radiated off of her as though she was going to burst. She never looked like this around Roy, it was only for him. And suddenly Jim's day was perfect again. Pam continued, "Like seriously cool. But, I was thinking, what if I bring up the article? I know it's your thing but-"

"No, yeah yeah, totally." Her taking part in the prank was better than her laughing at it. Pranking Dwight was their thing. They had a thing. "He's way more likely to believe you. I'm gonna get back before he comes out and then let's do this!"

Pam gave him a brilliant smile and a stealthy solute before getting back to work. He started heading back to his desk, but then thought better of it. "Hey, wait. One more thing." he grabbed some jelly beans for good measure. "Would you... umm... would you wanna go out for drinks with me tomorrow night? Not just me, of course, but I'm meeting up with a bunch of old friends and we're just gonna hang out, get drinks, play games. Normal stuff, and I was - uh - wondering if you'd want to join? Roy can come, too, of course." He winced at his fumbling delivery. So much for the old Halpert charm.

"Uh, yeah." She blushed. That had to mean something."Yeah, that sounds great. Roy and I don't have any plans and he loves drinking."

"Cool." He drummed his fingers on her desk, unable to stop a huge grin from spreading across his face. "Awesome."

* * *

Jim decided to actually knock out some of his real work while they waited for the perfect moment to strike. About ten minutes later Pam's voice called him back to the prank.

"Hey Dwight? Why do you grow beets again?" She had taken something over to the copier and had stopped on her way back.

"I'm glad you asked that, Pam." Dwight sat up straighter and smiled at her with a proud look on his face. "Beets are an extremely nutritious root vegetable. They are proven to lengthen life spans and lead to increased fertility in both men and women."

"Really?" Pam crossed her arms and leaned back against her desk. "It's just that I read this article, and I know you know a lot about beets, but it's just that it said beet consumption was one of the leading causes of cancer in America."

"That is false." Dwight scoffed, "Beets actively prevent cancer. Beets give Schrutes a near immunity to cancer. My great Uncle eats beets everyday and he's 103. You can't believe everything you hear on the internet, Pam."

"No, I read something about that too." Jim added, stroking his chin a bit for effect. "Didn't it say the beets degraded soil? Like growing beets in one place for an extended time depleted all the nutrients from the soil."

"No, that's not true at all." Dwight dismissed almost casually, but some cracks were already beginning to show. "Sure some additional nitrogen helps yield a good crop, but that's just basic farming."

"I heard that they are really bad for your teeth. Like really bad." Pam continued, playing to Jim this time. "Like the sugars in beets, beet sugar, has the right chemical make-up to cause dental hydroplosion."

"What's that? That's not. -" Dwight started, now clearly concerned

"I definitely heard that." Jim interrupted, hiding a grin at seeing Dwight so flustered "Did you read about how beets are bad for your eyes? They're like the opposite of carrots."

"Really?" Pam was great at this, Jim could almost buy the surprise and horror in her voice.

"No, that's a lie!" Dwight slammed his hands down on his desk.

"Carrots are so good for you, Pam. They help you see in the dark." Jim continued, egging Dwight on.

"I should eat more carrots, shouldn't I Jim? Swap out my beets for carrots?" Pam asked him, a cute little line of concern creasing her brow.

"NO. Don't eat more carrots, Pam." Dwight gestured madly, trying to grab Pam's attention away from Jim. "Beet greens contain more beta-carotene that a carrot ever could!"

"I don't know Dwight, carrots seem like the better option." She really looked like she genuinely wanted his opinion.

"They are a fad vegetable." Dwight ranted. "Before you know it carrot cakes will be out and people will be eating Beet cakes like the good old days."

"No, don't listen to him," Jim shook his head. "You're safer switching to carrots."

"Shut Up, Jim!" Dwight stood up and turned to Pam, hands out, pleading. "Pam, he doesn't know what he is talking about. Beets are so good for you, the article is probably just some sham from a jealous carrot farmer."

"I don't know Dwight, It looked pretty official to me." She headed back behind her desk. "I'll email you the PDF right now."

"Hey, I think I found that same article you're looking at. The one from the government website?" A little mention of legitimacy would drive Dwight beyond the brink.

"Government!?" Horror spread across Dwight's face.

"Yeah. that's the one. I'm sending it over to Dwight now."

"Hey look," Jim turned his monitor to show Dwight, pointing at a line in the PDF. "It says here that the rate of spontaneous human combustion is directly linked with beet consumption. That the odd chemical makeup of beet sugar acts as a fuel. Hey Dwight, didn't your grandfather die of spontaneous human combustion?"

"What? No. It was my great aunt's brother. And it was unrelated!"

"I don't know, that's proof if I've ever heard any." Jim shrugged, trying to hide his smile.

"I'm scared, Jim." Pam looked at him, eyes round and innocent. "Should I be worried about that?"

"Very worried." Jim said grimly. "If I would you, I'd completely cut beets out of your diet."

"That's it. I'm switching to carrots." Pam said with a shake of her head, settling back into her work space.

"IT'S LIES, PAM! DON'T SWITCH TO CARROTS!"

* * *

Pam, aside, "Don't tell anyone this, but I actually really like roasted beets on my salad. But Jim would never let me live it down."


End file.
